8 Paperbacks to Pick Up—and Pass On
You can't take an e-reader on a pool raft and you don't want
to lug a hardcover around in your beach bag—which is why we love
paperbacks. Here's the best of the crop to kick off summer 2014.
7 of 8
The Engagements
By J. Courtney Sullivan
528 pages;
Vintage Contemporaries
As
with her wildly popular
Maine, Sullivan tracks several marriages (or long-term
relationships) at once in her new novel, moving through different time periods,
from 1947 to 2009. There's Delphine, who's left her husband for a passionate
affair with an American, only to end up heartbroken. And Evelyn, who's spent
the past 40 years with the same man. And Kate, who vows never, ever to get
married. Yes, there's a diamond on the cover, and lots of fascinating history
about the diamond business and advertising. The real lure, however, is Sullivan's
ability to slip into the minds of such disparate characters—and to create
a novel that questions what all of us think, hope and need from long-term love,
ring or no ring.
— Leigh Newman
Published 05/27/2014